European Championships
Day 5 proved to be the hardest of them all as both teams lost out in tight matches 3/2. The men lost to Norway 3/2 after defeating Kosovo in the morning 3/0. Josh, Callum and Dean won the 3 matches there. Against Norway, Callum picked up both his singles but Dan and Josh were unable to add to the tally on this occasion.
The women suffered a similar fate as they lost 3/2 to Slovakia. Anna won her singles once again against a higher ranked opponent. Charlotte won her first singles to add to the scoreline but that was it as Chloe lost both and Charlotte her second singles.
Women finished 28th and the men 39th
Unfortunately neither qualify for the next World Championships in Sweden in 2018 due to the ITTF format which has changed recently.
Individual Scores for the European Championships:
Anna W4 L2
Josh W2 L2
Callum W6 L1
Dan W1 L4
Dean W1 L2
Chloe W1 L6
Charlotte W7 L5
Day 4 of the Championships is about to begin and here is a recap of the 3 previous days. The women, playing in the Challenge Division, but Bulgaria 3/1 in their first match. Wins from Charlotte (2) and Anna Hursey (1) sealed the win. Turkey was next and a tough 3/2 loss felted hard. Anna won once again at number 3 with Charlotte beating their number 2. Chloe lost the decider so close 3/2. Turkey was bolstered by World number 27 Hu Melek who took her 2 singles.
The same evening they played Azerbaijan. A 3/1 loss against the group leaders meant we finished 3rd behind them and Turkey. Charlotte picked up the win here with a 3/1 win. In the playoffs, the next day, a great win against Israel was a good recovery. All 3 women had a win each which shows the whole team is needed. In the second match of the day Belgium was too strong but with both Charlotte and Anna losing in 5 sets it could have turned in our favour somewhere on a different day.
The men got off to a win against Macedonia with Josh, Callum and Dan all winning comfortably. The next day proved an important one as we had to play both Bosnia and Scotland. Both teams were looking to squeeze us out of a top 2 finish. Bosnia started it as their number 1 Admir Duranspahic took both his matches and Dean lost a close 5th set battle. Callum beat their number 2 Alicic 3/1.
Scotland and Wales is always a close match, and this was no different. Nail Cameron beat Dan 3/0 to start the game in the Scots favour. Callum levelled it as he beat Colin Dalgleish 3/1. Dean lost in the middle match to Callum Morrison 3/2, which pushed the tide in their favour once again. Colin finished the tie with a 3/0 win against Dan.
Day 4 and the men play Kosovo in the final group match before the playoffs. The women play their final game later to Slovakia for the 27/28th spot.
Find all the results on https://www.ittf.com/tournament/2776/liebherr-2017-ittf-european-team-championships/#information